The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
Psalm 32:8
I will advise you and watch over you.
This week we are honoring our mothers. They are worthy of all the praises we can give them. This verse out of Psalms could be a great likeness of motherhood. But the real truth is mothers can’t compare to God’s guiding hand.
In 18th century Wales, a young man named William Williams graduated from the university as a physician, but quickly changed professions to become a physician of the soul — a clergyman. Being warned against the “fanatical dissenters” such as Wesley and Whitefield, Williams decided to become one himself, becoming a Methodist minister. During his 43 years of itinerant ministry, Williams traveled over 95,000 miles, and his impassioned preaching drew crowds of 10,000 or more. Once he spoke to an estimated crowd of 80,000, noting in his journal, “God strengthened me to speak so loud that most could hear.” William Williams is best remembered, however, for his hymns, becoming in Wales what Isaac Watts was in England. In all, he composed over 800 hymns. Williams had lived as a pilgrim, pressing on through the snow of winter, the rains of springtime, and the heat of summer. He was beaten by mobs (once within an inch of his life) and cheered by crowds, but in all his travels he sought only to do the will of God, saying: “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty, that’s our prayer today.” God doesn’t leave his children to flounder along in this world, like travelers lost in the wilderness. We travel his appointed way. He knows the way we take; he will guide us by his counsel, and afterward receive us into glory.
In my early life, my parents said in some ways, “I will guide you, I will advise you, and I will watch over you.” Now they have gone to heaven, and I don’t have them to help me through life. As I think about it today, I know that God guided them, advised them, and watched over them. Then I found Jesus as Lord of my life, and He has promised to be my guide, advise me, and watch over me. Praise God!
I like what God said to Joshua in chapter 1, “I will not fail you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Who is guiding your life, who is advising you, who is watching over you?